The Americans and 3 more shows to watch if you like The Agency

Here at Americans Undercover, spy dramas and political thrillers (which often go hand-in-hand!) will always be en vogue. We love a good series focused on espionage and conspiracies that can drive a country to the brink or a person undercover to become critical of the mission they've been tasked to carry out. In truth, these types of shows examine what it means to put "the cause" first and how that can corrode one's own humanity, understanding of self, and everything they thought they knew about why they decided to give themselves over to their nation's interests.

The latest series to explore these themes is Showtime's The Agency. The shows follows Martian, a CIA spy brought in from a six year undercover mission. His careful hold on control is slipping at the most inopportune time. Intelligence officers aren't supposed to fall in love with the people they see while assuming another identity and yet Martian did and it's possible Samia Zahir is not the woman he thought he knew. With another spy in the wind and a potential crisis on the horizon, his decreasing ability to follow protocol could put him and those he works with in immense danger.

The Agency has just started its run but if you've found yourself enjoying what you've seen so far and are looking for shows like it, we have four we recommend you add to your watch list!

Shows to stream like The Agency

The Americans

Streamer(s): Hulu, Hulu on Disney+
Seasons: 6 (75 episodes)

The Americans is a critically-acclaimed, award-winning FX drama set in the '80s during the Cold War. However, despite the title, the series doesn't follow Americans who are spies but rather Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, two KGB agents whose mission is to pose as a happily married couple in Virginia as they spy and gather information for Russia. Their task is a difficult one as they've spent years away from home, married for the purpose of the mission, and are raising two children together who are American citizens. This is further complicated by their neighbor Stan Beeman, an FBI agent who is unaware of their duplicity and who becomes friends with Philip.

Jack Ryan

Streamer: Prime Video
Seasons: 4 (30 episodes)

Jack Ryan isn't a spy, he's an analyst but the stakes of the geopolitical crises he must navigate are incredibly high. In season 1, he works a desk job but is unceremoniously thrown into the field when his determination for a string of suspicious bank transfers to be looked into bears fruit. He was seeking to prevent the next 9/11 and in doing so uncovered the operation of Suleiman, an Islamic extremist whose power and influence is growing at an alarming rate.

Bodyguard

Streamer: Netflix
Seasons: 1 (6 episodes)

Like The Agency's Martian, David Budd is dealing with the personal and emotional cost of giving your body to your country's cause. He's home now, working as a police sergeant in Bodyguard, but he's a British Army war veteran who has seen the horrors deemed necessary to keep the nation safe. He suffers from PTSD because of it and, though his own beliefs are not supposed to impact his work, his lived experience colors how he sees Julia Montague, the Home Secretary. Her ambition fuels her decisions and rhetoric, but he's been charged to protect her though he despises her politics.

The Veil

Streamer(s): Hulu, Hulu on Disney+

The CIA and DGSE must work together in The Veil, a series centered on two women caught in a deadly game. One is Imogen Salter, an M16 agent whose skillset includes espionage and undercover work. The other is Adilah El Idrissi, a French woman who is believed to be an ISIS leader who is in the middle of planning an attack. The two develop a surprising relationship that's also fraught as one has a secret that the other is bent on revealing in order to save lives.

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